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Potato Cake RecipePrize Winning Pennsylvania Dutch Recipe"Pans of the whitest, flakiest rolls, a large loaf of sweetest nut-brown, freshly-baked graham bread; an array of crumb-cakes and pies of every description covered the well-scrubbed table in the summer kitchen, situated a short distance from the house. A large, yellow earthenware bowl on the table contained a roll of rich, creamy 'smier kase' [cottage cheese] just as it had been turned from the muslin bag, from which the whey had dripped overnight; ready to be mixed with cream for the supper table. Pats of sweet, freshly-churned butter, buried in clover blossoms, were cooling in the old spring-house near by." Great food. Great living. Authentic Pennsylvania Dutch recipes like the recipe for potato cake given below have been treasured by generations of good cooks. Now you can experiment with a prize winning potato cake recipe. The Story Of The Prize Winning Potato PretzelRaised pretzel recipe from "Mary At The Farm And Book Of Recipes Compiled During Her Visit Among The 'Pennsylvania Germans'" by Edith M. Thomas.
In the early part of September Mary's Aunt suggested she try to win the prize offered at the Farmers' Picnic in a nearby town for the best "Raised Potato Cake." Aunt Sarah's rye bread invariably captured first prize, and she proposed sending both bread and cake with Sibylla and Jake, who never missed picnic or fair within a radius of one hundred miles. Mary set a sponge the evening of the day preceding that of the picnic, using the "Perfection Potato Cake" recipe (given below) which Aunt Sarah considered her best recipe for raised cakes, as 'twas one used by her mother for many years. On the day of the picnic, Mary arose at five o'clock, and while her Aunt was busily engaged setting sponge for her loaf of rye bread, Mary kneaded down the "potato cake" sponge, set to rise the previous evening, now rounded over top of bowl and light as a feather. She filled a couple of pans with buns, molded from the dough, and set them to rise. She then, under her Aunt's direction, fashioned the "Pretzel" as follows: She placed a piece of the raised dough on a large, well-floured bake board, rolled it over and over with both hands until a long, narrow roll or strip was formed about the width of two fingers in thickness and placed this strip carefully on the baking sheet, which was similar to the one on which Aunt Sarah baked rye bread; shaped the dough to form a figure eight (8) or pretzel, allowing about two inches of space on either side of baking sheet to allow for raising. She then cut a piece of dough into three portions, rolled each as thick as a finger, braided or plaited the three strips together and placed carefully on top of the figure eight, or pretzel, not meeting by a space of about two inches. This braided piece on the top should not be quite as thick as bottom or first piece of the pretzel. She then rolled three small pieces of dough into tiny strips or rolls the size of small lead pencils, wound them round and round and round into small scrolls, moistened the lower side with water to cause them to adhere, and placed them on the dividing line between the two halves of the figure eight. She placed an old china coffee cup without a handle, buttered on outside, in centre of each half of the figure eight, which kept the pretzel from spreading over the pan. With a small, new paint brush she brushed over the top of Pretzel and Buns, a mixture, consisting of one yolk of egg, an equal quantity of cream or milk (which should be lukewarm so as not to chill the raised dough) and one tablespoon of sugar. This causes the cakes, etc., to be a rich brown when baked, a result to be obtained in no other manner. When the pretzel was raised and had doubled in size 'twas baked in a moderately hot oven. Mary's surprise and delight may easily be imagined when Sibylla, on her return from the picnic, handed her the prize she had won, a two-pound box of chocolates, remarking, "Mary, you and Aunt Sarah both got a prize -- her's is in the box what Jake's got." The box on being opened by Aunt Sarah contained a very pretty, silver-plated soup ladle, the prize offered for the best loaf of rye bread. "Aunt Sarah," inquired Mary one day, "do you think it pays a housekeeper to bake her own bread?" Perfection Potato Cake RecipeThis old fashioned Pennsylvania Dutch potato cake recipe was taken from the book "Mary At The Farm And Book Of Recipes Compiled During Her Visit Among The 'Pennsylvania Germans'" by Edith M. Thomas, printed by John Hartenstine, Norristown, Pennsylvania, in 1915.1 cup of boiled mashed potatoes 
Enjoy trying this authentic first prize potato cake recipe from Pennsylvania Dutch country.
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